Black Tails's Journal
by 10tails
Summary: The Journal of Sly's Father, Black Tails. Contained within is the meeting of Sly's Mom and Dad, the birth of Sly and his Brother, and the beginning of the war that Sly will soldier through. A Furcadia Tale. R
1. 1st Veiwing

_As you open the stained leather journal laying upon Sly's desk you immediately notice that many of the entries are damaged by time and age. However, from the marks on the page and the taint of mana covering it, it seems Sly is restoring it as best he can. There is enough finished to get an idea of the story._

July 12, 1972

Guess this is what they call the records of a legend, eh? This is my story?   
More like a guide to living one tedious task after another. My life thus far has been mediocre at best.  
Nothing special has every happened to me, I haven't even won a door-prize.

But I've found a way to add excitement to an otherwise pathetic existence...If all goes well.  
I am leaving tomorrow to start in my newest profession, Banditry!

_At this point the story is lost to time as it is about 15 pages before the writing becomes readable again..._

June 20, 1976

How little dedication I have! It's acually been an entire year since I have last written in this journal!  
I have resently been promoted to "scout" in the gang.  
This in short means that my archery skills have been regonised. My job is to scout out potential targets beforehand and, during the acual combat, to start the stike by placing a bolt into the throat of who ever presents the greatest threat.

After that my job is over and I merely sit back and play my guitar from the tree while my follow Highwaymen rob, rape, and pillage. This is the sweetest profession I've ever belonged to!  
Well, I must be finishing up this entry for the night. The boss has asked us together tonight for a meeting.

Rumors tell that it has something to do with upcoming job.

June 21, 1976

The boss revealed the plan to us and, pointedly, I don't think our small band of bandits can handle it.  
He plans to raid a coastal village and ransack it with the assistance of three other bandit rings.  
I am particularly uneasy to give up my safe sniping position and take the field in the strike.  
I have seen what happens down on the battlefield far too many times. I hope the boss is right on this one.   
He says ninety percent of the town militia is being called away to defend another township from  
some invading spellcasters or such non-sense.  
It sounds like a far-fetched tale to me, and I personally would never risk the lives of my men on such a tale.  
But the boss is called so for a reason and I am going to have to go through with my mates, I guess.  
Well, I must sleep if I wish to be at my prime tomorrow night!

Here is for luck, maybe if it is with me I will survive to write in this journal again!

June 22, 1976

Well, I survived the strike. But only barely...The strike began as planned.   
We joined with the three other bands and made our way under cover of the new moon to the Township walls.  
Then we struck , charging through the gates and scattering.

Any plans that had be made where immediately forgottten in the melee.  
I myself merely ran behind a few of my comrades from the band and took pock-shots at the archers on the wall.

At one point, I heard a familiar scream and saw another comrade, a greying lapine war veteran named "Smooth Lefty", come flying out of a second story inn window. I heard the boss and others fighting above, so I dashed inside.

Ignoring a unfamiliar bandit having his fun with the tavern Bar maid, I bolted up the stairs and into a room with the door ajar. Inside I witnessed the boss and his right hand man fighting an gigantic Pheonix furre.

This man must have been at least 8 feet tall! His firey red feathers reminded me of and eagle that had suddenly caught fire. Behind him, leaning stunned against a wall, was a smaller female pheonix,  
she had twin red roses tattooed on both her forearms and her feathers matched the red of her roses,  
Her feathers were tipped in burgendy and, had we both been elsewhere, I probably would've thought her attractive, as strange as that type of interspecies relationship sounds.

But the fact was that we where not in a marketplace talking but in a dangerous melee. I watched as the male pheonix grabbed the boss's right hand man by the throat and, focusing his fire in the manner pheonix are famous for, caused his clothing to burst into flame before tossing him out the window.  
Then he turned to the boss and charged him, crushing him to the wall, and rendering him unconscious.   
I flipped up my crossbow and launched a bolt. It struck the Pheonix's wing and made him cry out in terrible pain.

Then he charged me. I can swear that I never would've thought a thing that big could move so fast, I only had time to pull back the string of my crossbow before my vision became a blanket of feathers. Then he was on me, I felt my fur singing and smoking as the heat around me intensified.

There was no way out, I was going to be a grilled coyote. Then I saw the pheonix's exposed throat and instinct hit, my adrenaline pumping furiously. I lunged my head upwards and bit into it, just missing the jugular. The Pheonix struggled and in the end I ended up releasing my grip and the pheonis reeled back clutching his throat. Then I rolled back, grabbed my crossbow and jabbed a bolt into it.  
The pheonix, being the predictable brute, tried his failed tactic over.  
I felt the crossbow press to his chest and then I pulled back the trigger with all I had. "TWANG!"

The bolt pierced, point-blank, through his sterum, heart, and out his back into the ceiling. I shoved him off me, and rose to find the boss clapping at my feat.

"Excellent job, Black Tails! I say that you should get to have your fun with this bird before I have mine!"

So it was done I got the chance to rape the Pheonix.

She is sitting behind me at this moment, bound and gagged on my bedroll, watching me with those intense olive gold eyes, as though trying to decide what to make of me.  
Should I acually do it? Should I rape the poor captive? the Boss might take it as a personal insult if I did not...  
So I suppose it's time to "Have my fun". But I wonder if after I do the deed...will I ever see her again?

June 28, 1976

HE IS KILLING HER! the boss has stuck that poor bird in a cage and is treating her like a song-bird!  
I cannot stand it...She looks so sad...

Her songs, when she sings them, are so mournful I wish to tear my heart out and hand it to her! She will not survive many more days.

I have decided! I will betray the very boss that trained me and free her, escape with her, and hope she forgives me for that night...Even though she seemed oddly willing for a captive. She didn't scream as most women would, she didn't try to stuggle, but then again she was such a beautiful partner that I couldn't help but romance her a little.

I have decided on Ryoto to take her to. It is a small villiage in a forested valley about 400 miles away.  
She will be safe there and then, after the boss stops searching for us, I escort her to where ever she requires, then we will part ways and I will hope this makes up for the suffering I caused her.  
I have packed my things, strapped my guitar to my back, and readied my back-up plan...  
I will start my plan tonight!


	2. 2nd Viewing

June 30, 1976

It has been done...My plan has succeeded. It took some doing to pull it all off. I first had to get the guard away from the bosses tent. I managed this by challenging him to a drinking contest. This guard was rumored to be an alcoholic that possessed no resistence to alcohol and I saked my success on this rumor.

After an hour of slamming down shots of a fine whiskey, The guard passed out and I silently thank the powers above for letting me be born with a coyote's constitution and resilience. I swear that I still have the hangover from that contest...

Then I proceeded, slightly drunk, to the Boss's tent. Hearing rythmic snoring I slipped inside.

The tent was as it always was: a round, collapsable table in the center on which the boss's dinner and personal effect where laid. The boss's cot had a heavy blanket upon it, a bulge within it rose and fell.  
The lady was laying in her cage, crying silently when I approached and I felt another pang of guilt for my hand in this. She immediately noticed me, her gaze jerking upwards from the floor, and stared at me like her gaze would cause me to fall dead and rot where I had fallen. I approached the cage and she opened her mouth to cry out.

Immediately, instinct took over and I lunge and clamped my paw around her beak then, with that threat avoided, I looked at her. She looked so miserable I couldn't help but let a couple tears run down my cheeks. She seemed to notice this because her gaze softened a bit, she understood that I was sorry this all happened.

Feeling relieved, I nodded to her and whispered "Promise you won't try and scream?" She nodded and I released her beak. I continued "I'm going to get you out of here and take you somewhere safe." and I began to work at picking the lock to the cage as the Boss had taught me, my lock-picks working furiously. Time was of the essence, who knew when the boss would wake.

Then she said "Who are you?" Her voice was smooth, relaxing and very gentle. It had a musical tone to it. But nonetheless her question surprised me and I looked up at her, confused, but I could see no harm in answering "Black Tails..."

"Black Tails? It suits you." she said as she pointed to my black tail. But continuing my work I couldn't help asking "Your name?"   
She answered with "Red Rose." This explained the tattooes and I was about to say "Yours also suits you", when she shouted "LOOK OUT!" then I felt someone's arms loop arond my head and squeeze my throat, I thrashed.

I heard the boss's little cackling laugh in my ear as he spoke, "So? Decided to come back to take her for yourself, eh? You'll rue the day you tried this, Blackie!"

I always hated it when he called me that, but at the moment I couldn't really care less. My vision was curling at the edges as my breath slowly failed me. Then just as I felt unconsciousness charging towards me, my eyes focused on her. She was crying again, but this time not for her situation, or for what she was about she was about to witness...No, her eyes showed a great concern and care for ME! And I realised that I cared for her.

I've heard of women bouding with their captive-takers but never the captive-taker bonding with the captive!

Nonetheless, that gaze woke my instincts and my mind stopped functioning. It felt as though someone had stepped into my mind and anything I knew about fighting was forced aside. All will was given to instinct as I felt my feet rise and swing backwards. Then my head slamming into the boss's muzzle and I heard a distinct "SNAP!" then I was over him and I grabbed a dagger from the nearby table.  
The boss drew his longsword and the melee broke out. Then this entire thing became an out-of-body expierience.  
I could feel myself watching the fight a bystander and at the same time I was within my head participating.  
I heard myself growl and bark at the boss, and watched as sparks flew as we lunged, parried and lunged.  
More bandits joined to watch, then one tried to intervene to help the boss. I watched myself calmly flicked the dagger over in my paw and slam it into his collar,  
then draw it across his sterum to the opposite collar bone and out all in one smooth movement.  
Everyone backed off after that and I returned to fighting the boss, the fight seemed to go on for hours.  
I've never been such a excellent knife fighter, my skills lie with the bow and the crosshairs, but I handled that thing with a skill unparalleled within this band,  
easily making up for the fact that the boss's weapon had a longer reach and threat range.

As the fight went on I realised I was fighting more like an animal than a Furre.  
nipping at the boss's exposed flesh and often dropping to all fours to bite his thighs and unbalance him.

The boss was tiring but I remained strong, my adrenaline pumping furiously.  
Then it happened, The boss over extended and I slammed the knife into his forearm just below the wrist.  
Then I thrust forward, easily slicing through the meat inbetween the boss's twin forearm bones and watched his eyes roll back as he fell unconscious.   
Then I jerked the knife free and stood growling at the crowd.  
I heard myself growl "Everyone get the fuck away! I'm taking the bird! Worse will happen to you if you follow us!"  
Then I strode to the cage and loped off the lock with a well placed strike of the knife.  
I held the knife out to the crowd as I took Red Rose's hand and helped her from the cage.  
I barked, "BACK AWAY!" Then smiled as they did so.  
Then I walked over to the boss's table and snatched up a several large wads of money and, leading Red Rose,  
walked through a hallway of people to the tent's opening. "Good...Now everyone will remain in this tent till sunrise and to make sure you do..."  
then I pulled out my back up plan. I pulled out pair of small vials with a clear liquid contained within it.  
I slid one into the hooks that held the tent's flap shut and said calmly "If anyone opens this...well..."  
I tossed the other vail and watched with a smile as it exploded violently, much to the terror of the others.  
"Good night gentlemen!" then I lead Red Rose outside, closed the tent flap, and squeezed her hand.  
Then we ran off into the woods on the trail I had scouted earilier that day.

At some point during our journey she turned to me and asked "Why did you have those vails?"  
To this I could merely answer;  
"It was my back-up plan. If I couldn't rescue you the least I could do was give you a way to end your suffering and take your tormentor down with you."  
She smiled at that.

And that's all off it.  
Right now me and Red Rose are about a week from Ryoto and no one seems to be following us,  
but I know the boss has not given up his prize so easily. **  
**She's leaning up against my chest as I write this as, occasionally adding details I've forgotten.  
This may sound like I'm rationalising but although I'm not into interspecies relationships, she's just such a beautiful Furre!

She blushed as I wrote that one. _There is a smudge on this comment as though Red Rose playfully tried to blot out what Black wrote._

July 1, 1976

Today, Me and Red talked a little more freely about ourselves along the way.   
I found out that she was on her way to an arranged marriage to a rather foolish fiancee.  
The pheonix I killed was her bodyguard and self-imposed enforcer of the marriage.  
She says she's happier with me out in these woods than where she would be, but that could just be flirting.  
She seems to enjoy flirting.

I asked her about her past and she's apparently some heir to a family economic dynasty.  
To this I perked my eyebrows and said "You're rich!" She merely giggled and said "Not yet!"  
Then she asked me about my past and I told her I not had an interesting life,  
mostly jumping from profession to profession until I ended up sick of professions!

She asked me where we were going and I told her.  
That sparked the question "What are we going to do once we get there?" to that I answered,  
"Get a place to stay...Live there for three months then you can go where ever you choose. I won't stop you."   
to that she stared at the ground and said "Mind if I stayed you a little longer?" to that I asked "How long?"  
She looked up at me then leaned her head against my cheek "Long as I can..."

My answer to that was to blush slightly and say; "Whatever you choose to do, M'lady"


	3. 3rd Viewing

July 4, 1976

Well, we now have a safe house to stay in, but not before facing some complications.  
The first one was the Ryoto's dominant language happens to be Japanese.  
Luckily, Red Rose knows the language from her family's dealings with the Japanese.  
She's offered to teach me the language and until then she's acting as translator.  
After dealing with that hurdle, finding a person to sell us a home was surprisingly easy.  
The people of Ryoto are surprisingly trusting, despite my bandit's attire.  
We found our opportunity to buy in the local tavern, after a half hour of drinking and chatting with the bartender.  
After hearing we wished to perchase a home in Ryoto,  
He pointed out that a furre by the name of Trilivanue had been planning for a couple months to move from Ryoto and that we might be able to buy his home.  
We asked him to arrange a meeting with Trilivanue for us and he agreed.

Two days later, a letter from Trilivanue arrived.  
He asked us to join him in the tavern at 10 o' clock that night.  
Red spent the day, "Making herself presentable."  
Personally, without a few personal effects, I doubt she could real do that much, but she tried.

10 o' clock found us waiting for Trilivanue in the tavern, we'd had a few drinks and I asked her about the fianceeshe was supposed to marry.  
She said that it was a tradition in her family from as long as anyone could remember for the females in her family to marry a stallion from the family of Mulain.  
The Mulain's were, as she described it,  
a dynasty of mana users and they believed that her family had the ability to ensure that the heir was born a mana user.

Now, my family had mana users in the past, my father was one. I had read his books before and the ability to  
channel mana was a freak of nature, completely random and unpredictable. A dynasty was impossible.  
She also said that the females in her family were, as she put it, "Hens."  
She said that most women in her family had the facilities to bare eggs, not live young.  
Then she mentioned that none of the women sent to the Mulain's had ever survived the birthing of the heir.  
It was practically a death sentence. She looked sad, and I know my face must have been the same.   
I can't believe that the Mulain's would go so far to have an heir to a dynasty that was just luck in the first place!  
Still thinking of what would happen to Red if she went to the Mulain's, I reached for an orange bottle and brought it to my lips to drink.  
As I drank from it, it laughed!  
I bit down in surprise on the bottle-neck. An echoing, "SHIT! OWW!" broke the silence and I dropped the bottle.  
It rolled on the floor following a circular pattern across the floor. Then suddenly rolled back into a standing position.  
I stared as the bottle rippled and reformed, stretching and expanding to a new shape.  
This continued until it a grey tiger furre in an orange trench coat was standing before them.  
He smiled at them and pulled up a seat.  
He sat backwards in the chair, his tail flicking back and forth as he smiled an amused grin at us.  
"Guess it serves my right for assuming such a risky form."  
I was speechless, but Red Rose was apparently unfazed by the strange happenings.  
"Are you Trilivanue?"  
The grey tiger smiled wider, "Yes I am, miss. And you two would be?"  
Red smiled diplomatically, "Red Rose"  
The furre looked to me expectingly but I was still slightly shocked at his method of appearance,  
so I just stared blankly until Red Rose nudged me, waking me from my shock.  
"BlackTails!"  
Trilivanue chuckled "Red and Black...What could be said about that?"  
At that point I couldn't hold in my curiousity any longer, "How did you do that?"  
Trilivanue smiled "It comes naturally for my breed."  
Red Rose laughed "You one of the Cyrian shapeshifters aren't you?"  
"On the nose, Ms. Rose." Then Trilivanue smiled, "Now let's get down to business."  
He ordered a round of drinks, then leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table.  
"You two are interested in buying my home, correct?"  
I tried to speak confidently "Yes!"  
Trilivanue swirled his drink, a fine red wine, about in his glass.  
"However, I will not just sell my home to anyone. You'll have to convince me."   
While I was thinking about what he meant by "Convince me", Red Rose asked,  
"What do we have to do?"  
Trilivanue snickered, "It's fairly simple...We ask each other question and get an answer. One question, one answer."  
I smiled, getting his meaning "Then we repeat the process until you're convinced."  
Trilivanue grinned "Or until the clock strikes 11, then I make my decision."  
It was 10:30 already, that didn't leave much time. "Okay then you start."  
"Are you two Lovers?"  
That question was unexpected and I floundered, luckily Red Rose was there to catch me.  
"Yes, we are...Very passionate lovers."  
Trilivanue laughed "Sure he knows that?"  
Red Rose giggled "The rules say we take turns...Why are you selling"  
"I want to leave Ryoto and search for something."  
Then Trilivanue asked, "You two planning on Children."  
Truth be told I had no idea...But Red never missed a beat as she answered "Been thinking about it."  
Then she winked at me, something that surpirsed me more than anything else had that night!  
But time was wasting so I pushed that aside for now and asked, "Searching for what?"  
Trilivanue sighed, looking forlorn "Somewhere I belong..."  
Then he brightened "I think there's more to this story than your letting on. Why do you what my home...And I want the whole story."  
So I told him. The entire story of how we met, to how we fled. Afterwards he was pensive.  
There was only a couple minutes left, I wanted to ask what he meant by "Somewhere he belonged"  
But then Red Rose asked him, "What's your full name?"  
"Trilivanue Von Kriam"  
Red smiled "No offense Tril-kun, but if your going to be traveling, your going to need a less foreign name."  
Trilivanue smiled "Maybe..." then continued "Very well I accept your offer, the house is yours."  
I was surprised "But you don't even know what we're offering."  
"And how much are you?"  
"2000 in gold..."  
Trilivanue looked thoughtful for a moment "I'll take it...on one condition."  
I tried my best to look skeptical "And that is?"  
Trilivanue smiled "That the lady gives me a new name for my travels."  
Red Rose smiled then examined him for a long time. Then laughed, her eyes sparkling,  
"Proteus James Fox!"  
Trilivanue seemed to enjoy the name throughly, "Proteus Jame Fox? I like the sound of it!"  
I could see it in his eyes, he would from this point on be called "Proteus".

Gold exchanged hands and Proteus lead us outside to show us into our new home, where he had agreed to let us stay until he could finalise the deal.  
As we exited the tavern he cocked his head towards Red and asked, "You said you where thinking about children?"  
Red Rose nodded curiously  
Proteus smiled "Then maybe I'll stop by every so often to see how the little scamp is growing up...I'm curious to see how you two raise him."  
Something prompted me to ask 'Him?"  
"I have a feeling it'll be a boy..." He chuckled knowingly "That I am!"

Somehow...I felt there something he wasn't telling us...As though he knew something we didn't...Something to do with the "That I am"...


End file.
